


Big Brother

by Eireann



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: F/M, Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-11
Updated: 2014-10-11
Packaged: 2018-02-20 18:54:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2439185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eireann/pseuds/Eireann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A follow-up of sorts to 'It Started With Enchiladas'.  When Trip finds out romance is brewing among his junior officers, he feels duty-bound to give The Talk...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Big Brother

**Author's Note:**

> Star Trek and all its intellectual property is owned by Paramount/CBS. No infringement intended, no profit made.
> 
> This story has not been beta-read, so any mistakes in it are mine.
> 
> Author's Note: This is just a little piece that popped into my head as a 'What if' from early in the series. A bit of a character sketch, perhaps!

“You – Hoshi, what–?”

 _What the hell were you thinking of,_ Trip could have said.  Realizing just in time that such a demand might not go down too well, he swallowed everything but the first word. 

His companion smiled, a distinctly vixenish look.  “And I have to admit it, I had a great time.”  She stirred the risotto on her plate rather dreamily before her gaze snapped back up to his face.  “What’s wrong?  I get the feeling I told the wrong person.  I thought you’d laugh.”

The chief engineer obediently tried to paste a smile on his mouth while he tried to reorganize his thoughts. 

Hoshi studied it and shook her head.  “Not good enough.”

Trip forked down a couple of mouthfuls of pasta to give himself a little time.  He suddenly felt as though he was on very dangerous ground, and it had happened with virtually no warning: one minute he and Hoshi had been chatting about the carvings found on a rock formation on the last planet they’d visited, and the next minute she’d sprung the surprise of the century on him.

She’d spent the previous night in Malcolm Reed’s quarters.  And not in additional weapons training either, at least not the sort of weapons training that Starfleet approved of between ranks.

It was not something Trip would ever have expected to happen.  He was usually fairly clued in on potential romances, but he’d never noticed any particular evidence of interest between the tactical officer and the comm officer.  They got on reasonably well, but had hardly been seen casting each other starry-eyed looks across the Bridge; and in all honesty, the thought of Lieutenant ‘Regulations’ Reed actually being able to achieve a starry-eyed look (let alone broadcasting them wholesale in the direction of a junior officer) was enough to give Trip a brain-ache.

“It’s, uh,” he cast a cautious look around to see nobody else was within earshot, “it’s a bit _sudden_ , is all.”  He frowned, as something occurred to him.  “Wasn’t he supposed to be dating Julie Owens?”

Hoshi grinned.  “I think that was what he’d describe as a ‘diversionary tactic’.  And it worked, didn’t it?  He had everyone fooled.”

“Including you, I guess,” he said, with a shrewd glance.

She nodded, before confessing frankly that she’d been as mad as hell. 

“And now you’re like a cat on a sun-porch step.”  There were less diplomatic similes he could have employed, but it was hardly appropriate; although she wasn’t in his chain of command, she was still a junior officer, and the situation she’d just revealed could have some serious ramifications.  Her ‘partner in crime’ _was_ in his chain of command – his direct subordinate – and Trip was now in an unpleasant quandary.  According to regulations, his next duty was clear.  And depending on the findings of any inquiry that resulted, there was a potential official reprimand in it for Malcolm.

Hoshi was watching him, now without a smile.  “I knew exactly what I was getting into, Trip,” she said levelly.  “It wasn’t like he was seducing some green young girl.  I wanted him as much as he wanted me.”

“That’s not exactly the _point_ , Hoshi,” he said in a low voice, casting another look around to make sure they weren’t being overheard.

“And what exactly is the point, then?” she inquired.  “He’s not in my chain of command.  And even if he was, it wouldn’t make any difference.”

“Ideally, no.  But in some life-or-death situation, if your life was endangered, that might affect his judgment.”

Her mouth curved in a rather sardonic smile. Ironically, it resembled the one Malcolm sometimes wore.  “You don’t know him as well as I do if you think that.”

“I thought I did know him.  Now I’m beginning to wonder.”

“Because he’s human?  You’d rather he really was that walking rule-book we all thought he was at first?  Fine.  You keep your dreams.  Personally, I prefer the reality.”  She rolled her shoulders, looking almost languorous. 

“I think I should have a word with him,” he insisted stubbornly.

Hoshi laughed.  “The protective big brother routine?  No need, Trip.  He won’t hurt me.  Chances are it’ll be the other way round.” 

“He’s your superior officer, Hoshi.  He should know better.”

“You’re being old-fashioned and sexist.  I wanted Malcolm and I let him know I did.  He wanted me.  It’s not even like it’s a love affair; it’s a lot simpler than that.  At least on my side it is.”  There was sour amusement in her smile.  “You’re still too much of a romantic where women are concerned, Trip.  Especially me.”

He sat back and studied her.  “You think Malcolm may have … feelin’s for you?  He hasn’t said?”

She pretended to think.  “Nope … not that he mentioned.  I think he had other things on his mind.”

Her deliberate vulgarity didn’t fool him.  His expression grew troubled.  “You’re playin’ with fire, Hoshi.”

“Ah, but that’s part of the fun, Trip.  If fire didn’t burn there wouldn’t be any point in playing with it.”

Trip reflected glumly that she’d certainly elected to play around with the most dangerous fire source on the ship.  Malcolm Reed was a walking example of the proverb that ‘still waters run deep’, and the man had access to _weapons._ If he was, like Hoshi, merely indulging in some rather unprofessional fooling around with an attractive partner, all well and good; but if he was – as she seemed to be implying – possibly more deeply involved than that, then the situation held a lot of ugly potential.

He still suspected that it was his duty to intervene somehow.  If the two of them were bound and determined to continue their liaison, there probably wasn’t a whole lot he could do to prevent it, short of reporting the affair to the captain; but if things went sour at least he could say he’d done his best to prevent it.

So he said nothing more to Hoshi, and turned the subject with a joke, allowing her to think he’d shrugged the matter off; but later that day he went into the gym, and finding Malcolm alone, pedaling relentlessly on one of the exercise bikes, he steeled himself and said that there was something he wanted to talk about.

“Oh?”  The lieutenant allowed the machine to run down and sat up, raising one eyebrow.  He looked the picture of innocence, but there was a glint in his eyes that hinted he wasn’t entirely unaware of the subject that was booked for discussion.

“Yeah.”  Trip slung his towel over the handlebars of the adjoining bike and settled himself onto it.  They were both out of uniform so the discussion could be regarded as an informal one; that was how it would remain until he was more sure of how to proceed.  “I’m not goin’ to beat about the bush, Malcolm.  I’ve heard about you an’ Hoshi.”

The other eyebrow rose.  His mouth tightened.  “And?”

“And I’d have thought it’d’ve mattered to you that liaisons between senior personnel and their juniors are contrary to regulations.”

Reed’s gaze went back to the readout on his machine. He increased the resistance, pushing it up much higher, and then he began to pedal again, slowly.  “It does matter.”

“Seems like not enough.”

“It seems not.”  A pause.  “Are you going to report me?”  He didn’t sound apprehensive, merely curious.

“The honest truth?  I don’t know what to do for the best.”

They pedaled in silence for a while.

“See, the thing is,” Trip said slowly, at last, “back on Earth, if a relationship don’t work out, the two of you can just go your separate ways.  If you never want to set eyes on her again, you can just up an’ move if it’s that bad.  But here on _Enterprise_ …”

“I understand that.”  The Brit was staring ahead, thoughtfully, as though imagining how difficult it would be to spend the next few years working across the Bridge from the woman with whom he’d had an affair that hadn’t lasted.  “So your chief concern is, whether Hoshi and I can hack it if our … liaison doesn’t prosper.”

“Well, that’s some of it.  I care about you guys, right?  We’ve got a good team on this ship, an’ I don’t want that spoiled, and I don’t want to see either of you get hurt.  As for the other side of things, I know I’m the last guy to preach to you about stickin’ to regulations.”  It had to be admitted that where the happy running of his department was concerned, the chief engineer was inclined to be very easygoing, unlike his very strict counterpart in the Armory. There had been more than one occasion when a visiting Malcolm had raised his eyebrows at, for instance, the way any of Trip’s subordinates who’d been ordered to work in particularly hot conditions were allowed to do so stripped to the waist rather than in full uniform.  Their boss was therefore aware of the irony in his lecturing Malcolm about toeing the official line, but then there was almost equal irony in the fact that the man known throughout the ship for his sedulous adherence to regulations was the one who’d suddenly decided to flout one of the best-known ones in the most spectacular manner possible.  It wasn’t as though he’d embarked on a fling with anyone who co-ranked him, which could have been overlooked.

A swift, sidelong smile acknowledged the admission.  At a guess, Reed was aware of both ironies.

“I don’t have a crystal ball,” Malcolm said at last, as though he were thinking the thing out as he went along.  “So I can’t say this is _going to_ work out.  But on the other hand, it’s not like I haven’t handled relationship breakups before.  And at risk of sounding ungentlemanly, I assure you that Hoshi … wasn’t inexperienced.  If we do break up, our personal relationship may obviously be affected but our professional behaviour will not.  If I’d imagined otherwise, I’d never have embarked on this. Since I imagine it’s from her that you’ve learned of last night, I’d imagine she’ll already have told you as much.”

“Something like that.”  Trip glanced at him.  “So you have thought this through.”

“I’m the ship’s tactical officer.”  He sounded almost offended.  “Thinking things through is what I _do._

“I exercised extreme discretion last night.  When I left Crewman Owens’ cabin I made sure I was seen, so there won’t be any question of accusations with respect to her – except perhaps one of ungentlemanly conduct from her, since I unfortunately found myself unwilling to fulfil her expectations.”  The smile now was sardonic.  “Later on, I made sure that Hoshi and I were quite unobserved, and I did the same this morning, so there won’t be any talk on the rumour mill.  If anyone on this ship is qualified to carry on a covert operation, you’re looking at him.”

“Yeah.”  The wry tone was softened by a large wink.  “Guess that was a bit of a stupid idea – you bein’ carried away by your feelin’s.”

A smirk and a shake of the head acknowledged the folly of it.  “Hardly.  I’m sure you’d be appropriately delighted by the picture of me felled senseless by love, but I’m afraid you’re in for a terrible disappointment.  I’m still the same heartless, calculating, curmudgeonly fellow I ever was.”

It was said airily enough, but Trip caught the faint note of bitterness in it.

“I’m guessin’ you were once,” he said quietly.  “Felled senseless, I mean.  And you’ve been makin’ sure ever since that it won’t happen to you ever again.”

Malcolm had been driving remorselessly at the pedals all this while, but his rhythm suddenly faltered.  His grin vanished; his mouth looked hard.

“Old history,” he said shortly. 

“Not for you, it’s not.”  Not knowing quite why he did so, Trip leaned across and laid a hand on the lieutenant’s arm, feeling the rigidity of it beneath his fingers.  “I’m not pryin’, Malcolm, so you can pull that portcullis back up again.  But I guess you’re forgettin’ that I was with you in that shuttlepod a while back.  I’m not sayin’ I didn’t get real tired of listenin’ to you dictatin’ your farewell letters to half the girls in San Francisco, but one thing I did hear was that there’s a real nice guy hidden under all that armor platin’ – a nice guy who just hasn’t found the right girl. 

“Now you an’ Hoshi are old enough an’ ugly enough to make your own minds up, and if you say you’re both confident enough you can handle this properly then I guess that’s your business.  If the cap’n finds out about it, it won’t be from me.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Malcolm quietly.

“And one of these days,” the chief engineer continued, resuming his pedaling, “maybe you’ll damn well get around to callin’ me ‘Trip’!”

 

**The End.**

**Author's Note:**

> Any reviews or comments are always very gratefully received!


End file.
